MadameLaMinx
Gold Member
Target, really, is just a number that you pick as the goal weight you want to get to. You pick it with your mind, because you feel for whatever reason that is the weight you want to be. You may have been this weight at 18 and want to get back there now you are 35. You may see this magical number as the epitome of perfection of your own body.
However - your body wont necessarily agree with your mind. It doesnt understand magical numbers, it just houses fat and muscle and organs and thats what it does. It likes it better when you dont overwork it by being overweight, but it has no opinion on what the exact digits you should be aiming for are.
BMI can work well as a good guideline BUT, BMI "healthy" is a quite wide-ranging affair in itself - and with good reason. It is the range of weight that a person of a particular height can expect to put no undue pressure on the functions of their body by carrying excess weight.
Obviously, theres the exceptions that prove the rule. The heavy set rugby player in the peak of health who has an "overweight" BMI despite being in perfect health and excellent fitness. The very underweight person who eats pies, drinks high calorie beer, and never seems to put on a pound. And all sorts of people in between. But their optimum weight in their mind, is probably nothing like their actual optimum weight.
When I set out with a "target" in mind - it was a target that was set on the basis that the last time I had lost weight, I had in mind, but never quite made it because I got pregnant. The logic I used was that it would be the point where I was lighter than my husband.
Thinking about it now, it was a pretty random way to choose target. When I did get there, I decided I still wasnt quite done, and lost a bit more. Those of you who have seen my before and afters will probably think I couldnt really lose much more. But the BMI chart says I would still be healthy at another 1 1/2 stone lighter than I am. Personally, I think I would be bordering on skeletal at that weight. I am 6ft tall, not petite, and being a size 6 would be awful. Being a 12 is fantastic, I never dreamed I could get to there, I was only ever aiming to be a 14.
I didnt fight with myself before I got to target, but I was scared, because I was so focused on the target that when I hit it I was kind of "lost" for a while. Maintaining is not as much fun as losing, losing gives you perpetual bursts of high satisfaction whenever you get on the scale and it says something nice to you. Maintaining is a lifelong commitment to never going back to where you were before. That can be an overwhelming thought.
So when you are picking a target, be realistic. Know that your body may not want you to be the same weight as you were when you were 18, and that it may resist. BMI, weight, it is all a numbers game. The really important bits are that you are happy with yourself and not aiming so high that you will automatically feel a failure if you dont get there. Focus on the achievements you have made - because they are many, and the changes that you have made that have improved your life, but dont stake the success or failure on a specific singular measurement of weight because if you do, and you cant quite achieve it, its all too easy to translate that into "I am a failure" and slide backwards the other way.
When really, you are not a failure, you are a roaring success.
However - your body wont necessarily agree with your mind. It doesnt understand magical numbers, it just houses fat and muscle and organs and thats what it does. It likes it better when you dont overwork it by being overweight, but it has no opinion on what the exact digits you should be aiming for are.
BMI can work well as a good guideline BUT, BMI "healthy" is a quite wide-ranging affair in itself - and with good reason. It is the range of weight that a person of a particular height can expect to put no undue pressure on the functions of their body by carrying excess weight.
Obviously, theres the exceptions that prove the rule. The heavy set rugby player in the peak of health who has an "overweight" BMI despite being in perfect health and excellent fitness. The very underweight person who eats pies, drinks high calorie beer, and never seems to put on a pound. And all sorts of people in between. But their optimum weight in their mind, is probably nothing like their actual optimum weight.
When I set out with a "target" in mind - it was a target that was set on the basis that the last time I had lost weight, I had in mind, but never quite made it because I got pregnant. The logic I used was that it would be the point where I was lighter than my husband.
Thinking about it now, it was a pretty random way to choose target. When I did get there, I decided I still wasnt quite done, and lost a bit more. Those of you who have seen my before and afters will probably think I couldnt really lose much more. But the BMI chart says I would still be healthy at another 1 1/2 stone lighter than I am. Personally, I think I would be bordering on skeletal at that weight. I am 6ft tall, not petite, and being a size 6 would be awful. Being a 12 is fantastic, I never dreamed I could get to there, I was only ever aiming to be a 14.
I didnt fight with myself before I got to target, but I was scared, because I was so focused on the target that when I hit it I was kind of "lost" for a while. Maintaining is not as much fun as losing, losing gives you perpetual bursts of high satisfaction whenever you get on the scale and it says something nice to you. Maintaining is a lifelong commitment to never going back to where you were before. That can be an overwhelming thought.
So when you are picking a target, be realistic. Know that your body may not want you to be the same weight as you were when you were 18, and that it may resist. BMI, weight, it is all a numbers game. The really important bits are that you are happy with yourself and not aiming so high that you will automatically feel a failure if you dont get there. Focus on the achievements you have made - because they are many, and the changes that you have made that have improved your life, but dont stake the success or failure on a specific singular measurement of weight because if you do, and you cant quite achieve it, its all too easy to translate that into "I am a failure" and slide backwards the other way.
When really, you are not a failure, you are a roaring success.
